Engineers Sweep Coast Guard, Advance to NEWMAC Championship

Nov 06, 2009

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – With a 25-19, 25-20,
25-21 victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the MIT
women’s volleyball team earned a spot in the New England
Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
Championship Tournament Final for the second time in three years.
The top-seeded Engineers (27-7) will take on No. 2 Wellesley
College in the title match on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Alex May posted a match-high 21 kills to go along with eight digs,
and three blocks for the Cardinal and Gray. Katie Spielbauer
anchored the defense with 17 digs as Kelly Schulte notched nine
kills and two blocks. Barden Cleeland and Cecily Joujon-Roche each
had three blocks while Cleeland tacked on six kills. Jenny Li
bolstered the attack with six kills as Alyssa Rothman tallied 34
assists, six digs, and two aces. Natasha Jensen rounded out the
Engineers with seven digs and one ace.

MIT inched out to an 8-5 lead in the opening frame. The Bears
battled back to even the contest at 11. After an exchange of
points, Coast Guard went ahead, 15-14, on a kill by Matic. Each
side traded points until the Engineers registered an 8-1 run which
resulted in a comfortable 23-17 cushion. After exchanging sideouts,
a kill by Schulte closed the set.

A hitting error gave the Bears their first point of the second
stanza, but MIT captured the next three. The majority of the frame
was closely played as Coast Guard came within one on seven
occasions, the last at 15-14. The Engineers posted a 5-1 spurt,
which was matched by the Bears to once again narrow the gap to one
(21-20). MIT responded by scoring the final four points, capturing
the game on a block by Cleeland and Schulte.

The Engineers jumped out to a 5-1 advantage in the final set. Coast
Guard slowly chipped away at the deficit, eventually claiming an
8-7 edge. MIT picked up the next three points to reclaim the lead,
but the Bears quickly evened the score at 11. Sparked by
back-to-back hits from May, the Engineers mounted a 7-2 run to gain
some breathing room. Coast Guard notched six out of the next eight
points, with a kill by Johnson bringing it within one (20-19). Each
side picked up a pair of points before three consecutive errors by
the Bears ended the match.